AMDM Question (Mathematics)

Question

One force of magnitude 50 acts on an object. Another force of magnitude 66 acts on the object at a right angle, what is the magnitude of the resultant force on the object?

Answer 1

Solution:

With no other information about the forces direction and sense, I am assuming that the 50 force and the 66 force are perpendicular to each other. By completing the parallelogram and the Pythagoras theorem, the resultant force is

R = sqrt( 50²+66²) = √( 50²+ 66²) = 82.8

P.S. note that the sense of the force corresponding sign whether positive or negative has n o effect on the value of the resultant magnitude because of the squaring action, ie. ( F)² = ( -F)² = F²